YOXALL is a parish, and large, well-built and pleasant village, near the navigable Trent, over which there is a bridge of five arches, and on the road from Lichfield to Sudbury, 4 miles west from Barton and Walton station on the Walsall and Derby section of the London and North Western railway, 5 north-east from Armitage station on the Trent valley line of the same railway, 7 north-north-east from Lichfield, and 125 from London, in the Burton division of the county, North Offlow hundred, Burton-upon-Trent petty sessional division, Lichfield union and county court district, rural deanery of Lichfield, archdeaconry of Stafford, and diocese of Lichfield.

The river Swarborn, flowing through the village, falls into the Trent about 1 mile eastward. The church of St. Peter is an ancient building of stone in the Norman, Decorated and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, north porch and a massive embattled western tower containing a clock and 6 bells: the south door is plain Norman: in the church is a very fine altar-tomb, with recumbent marble effigies, to Humphrey Welles, of Hoar Cross Hall, 1565, and Mary, his wife, 1584; there is also a marble monument, with recumbent effigy, to Admiral Henry Meynell, of Hoar Cross Hall, and brasses to the Lightwood family, 1706; the Arden family 1855 and 1980, and one to Hugo Francis Meynell-Ingrain esq. of Hoar Cross, d. 26 May, 1871: the church was thoroughly restored and re-seated. with open oak benches in 1868, partly at the cost of the late Lord Palmerston: the stained east window of the south aisle is a memorial to the Arden family, and there is another to C. Hunt esq.: the church affords 500 sittings. The register of baptisms dates from the year 1645; marriages, 1682; burials, 1678.

The living is a rectory, average tithe rent-charge £217, net yearly value £420, with 14 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Lichfield, and held since 1894 by the Rev. Alexander Arthur Cory M.A. of University College, Durham, and surrogate. Yoxall Cottage Hospital, situated on an eminence, is an edifice of red brick, in the Elizabethan style, erected. in 1873, at the expense of Mrs. Meynell-Ingram, who is also its chief supporter; it contains 5 beds. The Catholic chapel, dedicated to St. Francis of Sales, at Wood lane, erected in 1795, and enlarged in 1834, is of brick, and consists of chancel, nave and north porch: it has one stained window, and affords sittings for 140 persons. There are Primitive Methodist chapels at Wood Mill and Woodhouses. Charitable bequests, amounting to about £32 yearly, are distributed to the poor in bread, clothes and money.

Longcroft Hall is the seat of Hollond Franklyn esq. Yoxall Lodge is the residence of Hon. Mrs. Griffiths. Lord Leigh P.C. who is lord of the manor, the Queen, in right of her Duchy of Lancaster; George Edward Arden esq. Miss Birch and Col. Theophilus John Levett D.L., J.P. of Wichnor Park, are the principal landowners. The soil is a rich red marl and loam, producing good crops of wheat and beans, with a good portion of excellent pasture and meadow land. The area is 5,074 acres, about 1,200 of which have been enclosed from Needwood Forest, and 29 of water; rateable value, £8,994; the population in 1891 was 1,286 in the civil and 1,001 in the ecclesiastical parish.

HOAR CROSS is an ecclesiastical parish, formed partly from Yoxall civil parish, and will be found. under a separate heading.

HADLEY END is 1 mile north-west.

LONGCROFT is three-quarters of a mile north.

MORREY is a hamlet 1 mile west. WOODHOUSES, about 1 mile south, is another hamlet in the parish.

WOOD MILL and WOOD LANE are in Burton-on-Trent county court district, and about 1 mile north from Yoxall.

By the Divided Parishes Act, four detached parts of Hamstall Ridware, situated at WOOD LANE, were in 1882 transferred to Yoxall, and by an Order of the Derby and Stafford County Councils, a part of Foston and Scropton (Derbyshire) was amalgamated with Yoxall.

Parish Clerk, John Wood.

YOXALL POST & M.O.O., S.B. & Annuity & Insurance Office.- John T. Norman, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive from Burton-on-Trent at 6.20 a.m.; dispatched at 6.35 p.m. Telegraph office, Kings Bromley

WALL LETTER BOX, at Wood Mill, cleared at 6.30. Letters for Morrey, via Rugeley, arrive at 9 a.m

WALL LETTER BOX cleared at 4 p.m National School (mixed), built in 1817, with a small endowment, for 50 boys & 100 girls; average attendance, 48 boys & 75 girls; H.W. Jennings, master; Miss Lucas, mistress

CARRIERS THROUGH YOXALL.- Henry Dainty, from Lichfield, fri. to Burton-on-Trent; John Sabin, to Burton-on-Trent thurs. & to Lichfield, fri
[Kelly's Directory of Staffordshire, 1896]